YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–With the help of budget funds earmarked for cinematography–two full-length films will be shot by the end of the year: Albert Mkrtchian’s "The Melody of a Ruined City and a Jolly Bus" and Vigen Chaldranian’s "The Symphony of Silence."
Deputy Minister of Culture–Youth Affairs and Sports Vigen Chaldranian said at a press conference Thursday that 130 million drams will go to Mkrtchian’s film and 90 million drams will go to Chaldranian’s film. Any remaining sum needed to complete the shooting of "The Symphony of Silence" will be provided by the French Boomerang Studio.
Additional funds allocated from the state budget will go to the completion of several short films whose production has been delayed since 1992 as well as a cartoon.
Chaldranian said it is important to raise a new generation of Armenian cinematographers. The Yerevan Institute of Theater Arts will be re-organized into the Yerevan State Institute of Cinema and Theater Art–he announced–and it will have several cinematography-related departmen’s.
Chaldranian also announced his intentions to open a Cinema Museum at the Film Fund of Armenia.